


Gone King

by Carola_dl



Category: The Royals (TV 2015)
Genre: F/M, Robert's pov, Willow's POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 06:00:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12977583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carola_dl/pseuds/Carola_dl
Summary: He knew he needed to be harsh, conniving and a masterful diplomat to be a good king – but for the first time, he wondered: Why me? If Liam wanted the crown so badly, why not let him have it?He could just disappear.(Tumblr Prompt: They're already together before he goes missing. He returns to find Liam chasing after her but she is still waiting for him.)





	Gone King

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, here's another one shot for Robert x Willow. The idea comes from a Tumblr prompt.  
> As I usually do, I've deviated a little bit from the prompt - but the heart of it is still there.
> 
> I wrote this in one day - it was my lazy but creative day! I hope you guys enjoy it.

**Gone King**

Robert looked up at his father’s portrait, maintaining a dignified semblance that hid his pain, his defeat, and his resentment. In that, his father had taught him well. He hadn’t sent the portrait to any museum yet. He kept it in the palace’s basement, far away from any place of honor but close enough to Robert, so he could visit it from time to time.

“You win,” Robert said, his expression serene, but in reality, he wished his father’s portrait would become alive to apologize for having so little faith in him.

There wasn’t any answer, of course.

Robert wondered if the hate and distrust of his whole family could turn him into the person they thought he was. His father had called him unworthy once and now he felt that, while trying to prove him wrong, he had become just that – but no, it wasn’t fair, he had done plenty of dubious things, but no more than his father.

“I didn’t do what they accuse me of, father.” He said. Did his father know? Was he shaking his head from heaven or from hell, disapproving the broken union of his family?

A simple thought tortured Robert: What if, in his last minute of life, his father had also believed that Robert had sent Ted Pryce to kill him? After all, he had never really trusted him.

“You win.” He said, once again, “I am going to abdicate.”

+++

Robert came back to his bedroom at midnight, after a long one-way conversation with his dead father. He only expected the emptiness of his bedroom to greet him at that late hour, and was surprised to see his fiancé waiting for him.

Willow was sitting on the bed – with a frown and a furious face. Robert straightened his back, getting ready to hear once again the same accusations he had heard from his family the whole evening.

“How could _they_?” Willow hissed. Robert looked up, surprised by her words. She hadn’t say: 'How could _you_?' No, She was depositing the blame on the others. Was it possible that she believed him?

“I didn’t do it,” Robert said, adopting a serious and determined voice, but deep down he was just a boy crying to be heard and believed. He started to unbutton his jacket to distract himself from his feelings.

Willow stood up from the bed and walked to him with long steps. Without saying any word, she hit his hand away and started to unbutton his jacket. She didn’t do it to distract herself, quite the opposite. Robert had learned in the last months that she liked to be busy during her rants; it helped her to think and made her wit sharper.

“How could your own mother accuse you of killing your father?”

“She thinks she has proof. The letters my father sent to his old high-school friend, confessing his doubts about me.” He said, looking how her fingers opened his jacket button by button.

“Those letters only show that he was unable to give you the support you needed. It was easier for him to believe you were _unworthy_ than to believe he wasn’t good enough to teach you how to be king.”

“They also prove that he shared his doubts with me and wanted to abolish the monarchy because of me. Liam convinced my mother that I'd decided to kill him in revenge and to save the monarchy. I suppose one can easily arrive at that wrong conclusion.”

“How can you defend them after what they have done to you?” Willow asked, going around his back to take his jacket off.

“I am not defending them. I just like to understand everyone’s motivations, it’s very useful when one has so many enemies.”

“But they’re your family.” She said, putting the jacket on the closest chair. “Do you think they plan to make their suspicions public? To force you to abdicate?”

He shrugged, even when he had already decided he was going to abdicate. It had taken him mere seconds to realize that the crown wasn’t worth it. He had sacrificed so much of himself for England, for the dignity of the crown, for his own family – He knew he needed to be harsh, conniving and a masterful diplomat to be a good king – but for the first time, he wondered: _Why me?_ If Liam wanted the crown so badly, why not let him have it?

He could just disappear.

Willow blinked at him, “What are you thinking about?”

“Do you think Liam could be a good king?”

She didn’t answer straight away and he thought, for a second, that her silence was her only answer. “In part, yes. At least, that’s what I thought before you came back. Better that Cyrus, for sure… but now that I have seen with my own eyes what it means to be a king, I am not sure he could bear it. It puts a strain on _you,_ and you’ve been prepared for it your whole life.”

He put her against his chest, in a sudden hug. She took a sharp intake of breath, surprised by this gesture of intimacy. Although surprised, she didn’t pull away. Instead, she closed her eyes against his undershirt.

He was tempted to ask her: _Do you think Liam would be a good husband for you? Better than me?_ but he knew it wasn’t the correct way of phrasing that question so he reserved it for later.

“We still have to set a day for our wedding.” Willow reminded him without breaking the hug. He simply nodded.

+++

Willow woke up with her head resting on Robert’s shoulder and still wearing her clothes from last night. They had lied down on his bed and they had fallen asleep while they discussed the question that didn’t seem to have an answer: _When were they going to marry?_

They would happily marry next week, not because they loved each other, but because they both knew their marriage was a business contract that benefitted both. Still, a Royal Wedding required a lot of preparation and the people had to believe they had dated enough time to fall in love. England deserved a fairy tale. Also, they hadn't even made their relationship public yet - they were still debating the best way to introduce Willow to the people.

Sometimes she had to remind herself that their love wasn’t real, that it was just a theater play, and England was the whole stage. Other times, however, like yesterday - when they bantered like an old married couple and exchanged worries and confessions - she allowed herself to believe it was real.

Robert was a handsome, intelligent and classy man– Who wouldn’t feel attracted to him? But she was surprised how comfortable she felt around him. She saw his hard edges and his manipulative strategies and still, she understood him. She was in awe of how clearly she saw him when everyone around him struggled to understand his actions.

“Willow.” He said, in a half-sleep tone. Willow looked up at him. He was looking at her with an intensity that made her nervous. “Do you remember what you said when I asked you why you accepted my proposal?”

Willow nodded. It wasn’t normal for him to revisit old conversations. Once a topic was closed, he always looked ahead. Then why…?

“I said I wanted to be queen because I wanted to be in a position where I could do some important change, help people and so, or at least try to be a good example.”

Robert, “If I asked you _now_ , would that still be your answer?”

Willow frowned, not really understanding the importance of that question. Did he think she regretted her decision? That the lack of a private life scared her? That the duties of a queen intimidated her? No, she was happy with her decision – sometimes she surprised herself with how content she felt.

So, would that still be her answer? “Yes, of course. If you asked me again, I would give you the same answer.”

I would say _yes_ , she wanted to say, I don’t regret it. But for the first time during their engagement, they didn’t understand each other. Robert nodded, hiding his disappointment well, and Willow smiled, content, not knowing she had given him the wrong answer.

+++

Willow had been working the whole morning and when she came back to the palace, she was surprised to find the royal family reunited in the living room – all of them minus Robert. When she stepped into the room, they looked up at her, and Willow felt her throat contract in fear. Something had happened – she could feel it in her bones.

“Where’s Robert?” She asked.

“He’s gone,” Liam answered.

“Gone? He didn’t tell me he had an official visit today. Where did he go?”

“We don’t know,” Eleanor said. “No one knows.”

“He’s the king of England, how can no one know where he is?”

“He’s not the king of England, anymore,” Cyrus said. “He abdicated.” He didn’t even try to hide his smile as if he had hopes of becoming king now.

“What?”

“He didn’t tell you?” Helena asked. Willow noticed she had a letter in her hands. The former mother queen stood up and handed her the letter. “He says it in this letter. Now he wants to be alone. He’s obviously being melodramatic, he only wants the attention.”

No. Robert had never been melodramatic, that was more Liam’ forte. Willow was tempted to tell Helena that she was mistaking her sons, but she decided to remain silent and read the letter. And there it was, an abdication, but there weren’t words of melodrama, just a reasonable explanation of his decision: _He thought absurd to fight for a crown that nobody, not even his deceased father, thought he deserved; and he was afraid that their hate and distrust would turn him into the villain they thought he was._

“He doesn’t say when he plans to come back,” Willow said in a whisper.

“No, he doesn’t say.” Eleanor was the only one who seemed as worried as she was.

That made her so angry. She looked at the royal family with unforgiving eyes. “I hope you’re happy now. You got what you wanted, he’s gone, and now you can keep playing to stab each other’s backs.”

Willow turned around before any of them could open their mouths.

+++

Robert read the newspaper every day, looking for the announcement of Liam’s coronation. It only took five days. He shouldn’t be surprised, nobody was irreplaceable, not even the king. After all, they had already lived without him when they thought he was dead – and it seemed like they hadn’t missed him.

Still, he wondered how long it would take them to announce Liam and Willow's wedding. The public didn’t even know Willow was engaged to Robert so the change of fiancé wouldn’t harm their image.

Robert was hiding in a picturesque hotel in a small town close to London. He had blackmailed the town, investing a lot of money in it in exchange for their silence. They had promised to keep his secret, although it didn’t seem necessary – nobody was looking for him.

He remembered his last night in the palace. He had ordered Jasper to take care of Eleanor and become once again her security detail.

“What about you?” the bodyguard had asked.

“I won’t be needing bodyguards anymore, Jasper. At least not for a while.” He had said, before turning away.

He supposes Jasper had woken Liam up with the news because his brother had stopped him in the hall, on his way to his office.

“Where are you going?” Liam had asked, visibly confused.

“Does it matter? Just know I won’t be an obstacle for you, anymore.”

“So you’re going to disappear, without saying a word.”

“I don’t think anyone will care.”

“What about Willow?”

That question had stopped Robert in his tracks. He had admitted to himself that he would miss her, but he wanted to be fair to her.

“You told me once that she loved you, that she had confessed it to you.” Robert had said, “I remember you used it as one of the reasons why I shouldn’t marry her.”

“But you didn’t hear me.”

“Maybe I should have.” Robert had shaken his head. “She wants to be queen, Liam, and not for selfish reasons – She deserves it.”

“What are you saying?”

“You should marry her. Choose the right girl, for once.” Robert had told him, as an older brother reproaching him for his bad previous decisions. Robert had taken a letter out of his pocket, as well as a small brochure of the hotel where he was going to stay. “That letter will explain my decision, and that’s the hotel where I will be staying. It’s only for emergencies. I was going to leave it in my office, but I suppose it will be in good hands with you.”

“Emergencies?” Liam had asked, confused.

“The Royal family is never short of them.”

Those were the last words he had said to his brother. He hadn’t heard anything back from them – Not his mother, not Eleanor, not Willow. He shouldn’t be disappointed or hurt, but he was.

+++

“Robert is fine, mother. He sends you kisses too.” Willow said to her cell phone. “I have to go now. Can I call you later?” When she hanged up, she turned around and saw Liam, standing behind her.

“Was that your mother?”

“Yes, she sends you congratulations on your new job. Those were exactly her words.” Willow chuckled. Her mother was probably the only woman who thought that becoming a king was the same thing as getting a new job.

“And she sends Robert kisses.”

Liam mentioning Robert was never a good sign, so she adopted a defensive posture. “Well, yes, he’s her future son-in-law.”

“Are you sure about that?” Liam asked.

“About what?”

“He left, Willow. You guys didn’t even set a day for your wedding. He’s gone. And it seems like you didn’t even tell your mother.”

Nobody in England knew that Robert was ‘missing’. He had just abdicated because he wanted a less complicated life – of course, the official version hadn’t convinced anyone and there were multiple rumors about his abdication. One of them was that he had fallen in love with a native girl from the deserted island where he had been trapped.

“He broke up with you, with his family. Not with me.” Willow said with a firm voice. She wanted to convince herself as much as Liam. She couldn’t understand what had happened – why had Robert decided to disappear so suddenly without even saying goodbye?

“Then why are you here with us and not with him?”

“Well, I will know the answer to that once I find him.”

Liam seemed very surprised, “So you’re looking for him. Why? It was going to be a marriage of convenience. You both admitted it.”

Yes, why, Willow? She asked herself. Was it because she had grown used to him? To the intimacy they’ve started to build together? It just had stopped too brusquely. “It’s complicated. And I haven’t looked for him exactly, I mean, I tried… but I don’t know how. I called his friend Beck but he doesn’t know where he is. Who knows? Maybe he’s is in a foreign country.”

“He isn’t in a foreign country.”

“How do you know?”

“It’s just a guess,” Liam said, too fast, as if he was hiding something. “You can still be the queen of England. If Robert and I agree on something is that you will be a good queen.”

Willow frowned. What was Liam trying to say? “Robert abdicated. You know that better than anyone.”

“I don’t mean with Robert. If we…”

No. No. He couldn’t be insinuating what she thought… “I am not Kathryn.” She said without thinking. She knew it wasn’t probably fair to Kathryn but the idea of changing fiancés as if they were simple complements infuriated her.

“Robert wouldn’t hold a grudge against you. He actually told me I should marry you.”

“Sorry?” Willow asked, furious. “When did he tell you that?” _How could he?_ She had been by his side even when his family had accused him of the worst crimes. And now, how easy was for him to give her up to his brother! They weren’t in love, she knew that, but she thought they were at least… _something._

“Before he left.”

“You saw him?” Willow asked even more confused than before.

Liam nodded, “So what do you say?”

“You’re asking me to marry you?” Willow asked. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Liam nodded, a friendly smile on his face – but his stare was lacking something, Willow wasn’t sure what. “I can’t. I’m already engaged.” Liam looked taken aback by her answer, but after several seconds, he nodded.

Willow stood up and walked away but she stopped when a suspicion hit her. “Liam, do you know where he is?”

Liam sighed, “I do.” He admitted.

+++

It was a small but picturesque hotel, with no more than 50 rooms. Willow took a deep breath, as if she was preparing herself for a battle, and walked to the reception desk. A woman, around 50 years old, finished attending the last client and smiled at Willow when she approached her.

“How can I help you?”

“I’m looking for Robert Henstridge.”

“King Robert…? I mean, Prince Robert Henstridge? He isn’t staying here.”

“I know he is. I am his fiancé.”

“He doesn’t have a fiancé.” The woman said with distrust.

Willow sighed –  it seemed like Robert had done everything in his power to protect his privacy. Willow took a picture out of his bag. In the picture, she was showing her ring at the camera and Robert was next to her, smiling. They were going to send this image to the press once they decided to make their iengagement public.

“It’s not public yet.” Willow said. “But if you take me to him, I promise you our first dinner will be at this hotel once we make it public. Do you know how much publicity that will bring to your business?”

The woman looked at her, unsure. Thankfully, in that instant, a surprised voice interrupted their conversation.

“Willow?” Robert was behind her, looking at her as if she was a ghost that had suddenly materialized.

Willow turned around and looked at him. She sighed, relieved that he was fine, but still angry for his abandonment. “We need to talk.” Willow looked around, nervous. “Alone.”

+++

Robert stood in front her, who was sitting on the bed. He tried to convey an air of calmness, as if whatever she had come to tell him couldn’t really affect him. Had she come to return his ring and inform him that she was going to marry Liam? There couldn’t be another reason. He had been gone for weeks and she had never tried to contact him. This had to be important.

He waited for her to say something, but it looked like she didn’t know where to start. He looked at her right hand and was surprised to see that _his ring_ was still there.

“You’re still wearing my ring.” He said, surprised.

“Should I take it off?” She asked, in a defiant tone. She looked up at him and Robert was surprised to see the anger in her eyes.

“I suppose that depends. Have you already come to an understanding with Liam?”

Suddenly, she stood up and slapped him, hard. He stepped back – he wasn’t expecting that. “Why…?”

“That was for leaving me behind.” She sat back and this time, when she looked at him, the anger was gone. “We still have to set a date for our wedding.”

Robert’s firm composure died in that moment. He didn’t understand… “Do you still want to marry me?”

“Only if you still want.”

“You know I abdicated, right?”

“Yes. I read your letter.”

“And you still want to marry me? You said you accepted to marry me because you wanted to be a queen and… marrying me won't help you to achieve that now.”

“When you asked me that question, the night before you left, I thought you were asking me if I regretted saying yes. And I don’t regret it. I don’t.” She shook her head, “Now you make me sound like a fortune hunter, or a crown hunter, I guess.”

“No. You never tried to trick me. I always knew our marriage would be more like a business partnership than a real marriage.”

“What if I have changed my mind? What if I want something true?”

She wanted him? Even when he wasn’t a king anymore? It was the first time that someone had loved him for who he was – without the tempting promise of a crown. It was difficult to separate who he was from the title of prince or king – sometimes he wondered what kind of person he would’ve been if he had been born in a normal family.

When they got engaged, he had given up his wish of marrying for love and had decided to ask for the hand of a proper girl who didn’t seem to have any special attachment to him… and now, here they were – They didn’t love each other, exactly, not yet at least, but it was the most truthful and intense relationship he had ever experienced.

He took her hand, helped her to stand up and kissed her knuckles. She looked up at him, anxious for his answer.

“Is my fiancé hungry?” He asked.

“I am starving.”

“Let’s go to dinner, then.”

It felt so normal, almost as if they were just a normal couple in a normal little town.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I wasn't that benevolent with Liam this time - but I hope he was still in character. Also, Robert: once again - he's not perfect but not the villain his family wants him to be.
> 
> Also, Robert abdicating could be sad for some of his fans - but I wouldn't mind if he abdicates if he still gets a happy ending with Willow.
> 
> Thoughts? Reviews are always appreciated!


End file.
